The Academy of New England Journalists plans to honor VTDigger founder Anne Galloway with its prestigious Yankee Quill Award on Saturday.
The award recognizes extraordinary reporters, editors and news leaders for “their lifetime achievement and distinction in New England journalism.” It will be presented to Galloway at a luncheon in Waltham, Massachusetts, during the annual convention of the New England Newspaper and Press Association.
Galloway got her start in journalism reporting for the Hardwick Gazette and later served as Sunday editor of the Rutland Herald and Barre-Montpelier Times Argus. In 2009, she founded VTDigger as a one-woman investigative news organization. It has since grown into Vermont’s largest newsroom — and a national leader in digital, nonprofit journalism.
After 13 years at the helm, Galloway stepped down last year from her role as editor-in-chief of VTDigger and executive director of its parent organization, the Vermont Journalism Trust. She continues to serve as editor-at-large, contributing investigative journalism to VTDigger.
Galloway said she was grateful to be selected for a Yankee Quill and to “follow in the hard-to-fill footsteps of previous recipients I greatly admire and who have supported me along the way.” She called it her “great honor” to build a thriving digital news organization that has filled a void left by legacy daily newspapers.
“It’s because of the dedication of our reporters, editors, administrative staff, business employees and board members that VTDigger has become a success story,” Galloway said. “The organization faced many hurdles, but we kept going because our readers had faith in the work and supported it financially. Today, our team is an inspiration for journalists around the country who believe in the democratic pillar of the public’s right to know.”
Galloway’s successor, VTDigger and Vermont Journalism Trust CEO Sky Barsch, congratulated her predecessor on the honor.
“Anne is not only known for her investigative reporting endeavors, she’s been innovative, bold and entrepreneurial in order to keep local news alive,” Barsch said. “Despite financial blows to the news industry and the devastating effects of the pandemic, Anne worked tirelessly to ensure Vermonters have access to the critical information they need to navigate their lives. That’s true Yankee ingenuity.”
The Yankee Quill has been bestowed upon a handful of recipients each year since 1959. The selection committee includes previous recipients and representatives of leading New England news organizations.
VTDigger senior editor Tom Kearney, a former executive editor of the Keene Sentinel and a 2001 recipient of the Yankee Quill, nominated Galloway for the honor. He said he did so “because I admired the guts and determination it took” to found VTDigger and grow it into what it is today.
“Digger has become a national model of a nonprofit organization, and Anne spends a great deal of her time sharing her experiences and advice with news organizations large and small across the nation,” Kearney said.
